Newsletter

Dock lawsuit costs city nearly $100K

St. Augustine City Commission officials said this week that the city has paid $99,417 so far for outside counsel to deal with a lawsuit filed last year by the Whetstone family.

And there are more legal bills on the way.

The lawsuit was filed because a zoning application the Whetstones submitted in June 2011 for permission to build a 270-foot dock into the Matanzas River was denied twice by the Planning and Zoning Board.

Henry Whetstone Sr., family patriarch and founder of Whetstone Chocolates, released a statement Saturday.

“The issue is about ownership of the land eastward of the Seawall in front of the Bayfront Inn. The City Commissioners are refusing to recognize our ownership with almost 200 years of recorded documents,” Whetstone said. “As a taxpayer I don’t appreciate the City spending tax dollars to fight private citizens. The Commissioners are once again failing to accept the property rights of its taxpayers and are spending money to fight its citizens. The City recognizes that the Santa Maria Restaurant owns its property east of the seawall, why are they refusing to recognize that we own property east of the seawall?”

The family owns several chocolate outlets, a professional office building, a motel on Anastasia Island and other local businesses, including the 32-room Bayfront Inn at 138 Avenida Menendez, where they want the dock.

City officials have said repeatedly that they do not believe the family owns the land, which is crossed by Avenida Menendez and the seawall.

City Attorney Ron Brown said, “As far as the city is concerned, we still own that property.”

Officials believe the new dock would be too close to the city mooring field, and that the area, well within Conservation Overlay Zone 1, is “the most environmentally sensitive and natural resource within the city .... consisting of wetlands, brackish water and habitat areas.”

In addition, they say the Whetstones have never paid taxes on that property.

Still, former County Commission Chair Bruce Maguire, who is married to Virginia Whetstone, said, “All the property under (Avenida Menendez) belongs to the property owners up and down the street. We can prove our chain of title.”

The family considers this similar to the Donna Wendler case and the Fish Island case. In both of those cases, the city’s denial of zoning approval was challenged in court and both accrued significant legal expenses to the city.

The city eventually lost the Fish Island case, while the Wendlers have filed an appeal.

All but one of the residents living near the proposed Whetstone dock site oppose the project, pointing out that a dock would draw pedestrian and vehicular traffic that would make the already congested historic district even more so.

Mark Knight, city planning and building director, said the dock item was rejected both times because PZA members did not believe the Whetstones owned the property.

But the Whetstones say records dating back to 1788 prove they own it.

A St. Augustine Record news story published April 12 said, “The family’s lengthy lawsuit claims the Whetstones ‘can document the various title holders prior to 1863,’ but for purposes of the lawsuit would start from Dec. 21, 1863, when a deed for the property from the U.S. government went to a Charles D. Lincoln.”

A long line of owners are listed and then, in 1944, J.A. and Josephine M. Whetstone bought the property, and in 1965, Henry M. and Esther Whetstone — Virginia’s parents — inherited it.

One of the earliest Spanish records say orange grower and land broker Jesse Fish was the original owner in 1760.

The PZA refuses to even hear the dock plans until the Whetstones have proven their ownership, which is the issue the court must decide.

Brown said the case is not even close to being over.

“The lawsuit’s initial pleadings have been filed and the depositions of Virginia Whetstone and her surveyor have been completed,” he said. “However, the case has not yet been set for trial.”

The Gunster law firm of West Palm Beach represents the city, while St. Augustine attorney George McClure of McClure Bloodworth represents the family.

McClure did not return phone calls requesting comment on the case.

Brown said more legal costs are certain. Virginia Whetstone and her surveyor have already given depositions and two city witnesses are scheduled this week, he said.

“(But) this is the type of case that could be resolved by a summary judgment, because it’s driven mainly by documentary evidence,” Brown said.